In a small Midwestern town there was a gas station attendant. One Saturday morning a gentleman stopped in to get gas on his way into town. 'I am just moving into town,' he asked, 'can you tell me about the people around here?'

The attendant asked, 'how were the people in the town you come from?'

'They were unpleasant and egotistical, hard to get along and not very friendly. In f  ...read more...

These days we are all being affected by the circumstances in which we live. Tensions at work go home with us and cause problems in our family life. The issues of home come to work and become obstacles to successful performance. I will break with the regular cycle of leadership, customer service and sales techniques to talk about a tip I was given long ago and which has helped me a  ...read more...

All of us are communicators. Whether for work, business or in our personal lives, we must communicate with others. Man is, after all a social being. How then, can I improve my communication skills?

In the book crucial conversations the authors discuss tools that they understand are useful to improving high stakes conversations. They suggest we start by working with ourselves.

John P Kotter is generally regarded as the authority on  leadership. In his book a sense of urgency he spouses the importance of urgency to effective leadership and discusses what he sees as the two principal obstacles: (i) Complacency defined by the dictionary as 'a feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger or tro  ...read more...

What makes people successful? Rather, how are successful people made?

We all know stories about poor students who become extremely successful and geniuses who succeed in school, but fail miserably in life. Why?

I am reminded of a story I heard about Jorge Posada and his father. One day the father came and told Jorge that he was too slow to be a second baseman. If he wanted to ma  ...read more...